1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dough preparation, more particularly, to machines for rolling dough into balls.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rounding is an important step in the baking process. One type of dough rounder is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,275 and U.S. Patent application publication No. 2011-0212208, hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the dough rounder 10 has an auger 20 that consists of a spiral ramp 24 rigidly secured to the outer wall 36 of a tubular cylinder 22 and that is mounted to a base 12. A cylindrical drum 18 is mounted to rotate about the auger 20 such that the outer edges 26 of the ramp 24 are contiguous to the inner wall 28 of the drum 18. The ramp 24 is inclined downwardly and outwardly across its width to push lumps of dough 2 on the ramp 24 against the inner wall 28 of the drum 18. A dispenser plate 30 at the bottom of the cylinder 22 directs lumps of dough 2 dropped into a top opening 32 of the cylinder through a side opening 34 in the side wall 36 of the cylinder 22 and on to the ramp upper surface 38. The drum 18 is rotated, either directly or indirectly, by a motor 14. Rotation of the drum 18 moves the dough 2 upwardly on the ramp upper surface 38 to the upper edge of the cylinder 22 and drum 18. Constant pressure of the drum wall 28 and the ramp upper surface 28 on the dough 2 rounds it as it moves to the top of the drum 18. The ramp 24 ends at the upper edge of the drum 18 and when the dough ball 2 reaches the top of the drum 18, it drops over the edge of the drum 18 onto a suitable surface.
One shortcoming of the current auger design is that the upper surface of the auger is smooth. In the appropriate circumstances, such as if the outer surface of the dough is dried out and crusty, there is no resistance to the rotating action. The dough is just pushed upward the ramp without much of the molding action. This creates a very loose, non-uniform dough ball with air inside.